She Treads Softly: Hello Beautiful

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Hello Beautiful

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
3/14/23; 416 pages
Random House

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano is a very highly recommended, poignant and complex family saga. One of the best novels and character studies I've read this year. Absolutely excellent!

William Waters grew up feeling completely isolated and unloved by his parents. One world he was accepted in was playing basketball and so he embraced that identity. When Julia Padavano, an assertive young woman who knows what she wants, meets him during their freshman year of college, she decides William will be her boyfriend. She introduces him to her three sisters: Sylvie, Cecelia, and Emeline and then has him come to their home for dinner. William is overwhelmed and immediately accepted by the loving but boisterous family and he is grateful Julia cares and is in charge.

The two marry, according to Julia's plans, and she presses on with her agenda for their future. When events occur in the family that she can't control, it unsettles the foundation of her plans. The sisters continue to hold their strong bond to each other, but when a crippling darkness and depression take William over, Julia and William divorce, and William gives up all rights to their infant daughter, Alice. Sylvie, however, understands Williams struggles and she stays by his side, along with support from Cecelia and Emeline. Julia takes Alice and starts a new life in New York City, apart from his sisters.

The narrative alternates between the voices of William, Julia, Sylvie, and late in the book, Alice. At the beginning of each chapter are the years covered in the narration. The events corresponds realistically to the time periods covered. William is the first narrator and the chapter covers 1960-1978, starting with his birth. This continues until the last chapter set in 2008. Written into the narrative is a homage to Louisa May Alcott’s, Little Women, with the four sisters each taking on a different role.

Hello Beautiful is an exquisitely written, complicated, and perceptive family drama that asks if love make a broken person whole? Beyond that it is so much more. It is an exceptional character study. With great compassion and care, the narrative is an examination of how people can support each other during times of struggle and build a meaningful life. It is a celebration of family and friendship during the difficult times.

Honestly, these are some of the most finely written and well-developed characters I've encountered in a long time. All of the characters in Hello Beautiful are fully realized, and portrayed as authentic, unique individuals with flaws and strengths. They all experience change and growth. There is great insight into their inner lives and relationships with each other. Certainly Hello Beautiful will be on my list of best novels of 2023.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Random House via NetGalley.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.